Residents do battle again over phone mast

Brian and Alison Simpson.

Residents in Canmore Street are preparing themselves for their second struggle against a mobile phone mast being sited near their homes.

A massive campaign mounted in 2004 prevented the installation of a third generation phone mast at the BT exchange in the street.

At that time the councillors’ collective decision was swayed by 260 letters of objection as well as a 960-signature petition against the mast’s installation.

The company has recently lodged an application with Angus Council for a 12-metre tall radio pole fitted with a 30cm radio dish at the same location.

Several nearby residents, however, have again lodged objections on the grounds of the dish’s possible visual impact on their properties and concerns over health.

Alison Simpson, whose home is next to the exchange, said: “This is the second time they’ve applied for this and I don’t know why they need it.

“It’s so tall it will be visible from all around and all but two of our windows will look out at it.”

Mrs Simpson’s husband, Brian, also said he felt there were other locations the dish could have been located away from houses.

He said: “There’s a mast up at Balmashanner and one at the Market Muir. Surely there would be room for a 300 millimetre disk on one of them.

“We spend a lot of time in the garden during the summer and it will be overlooking that.”

Alan Petrie, the Simpsons’ neighbour, also said he has concerns on health grounds about a radio dish being sited close to people’s homes.

He continued: “Why put it there? It’s one of the lowest points in town, and there are hills all around. There have also been reports of people being affected by radio waves. There are so many going around and no-one knows how their effect is.”

A BT spokeswoman said that the location had been chosen partly because it was felt the pole would have a minimal visual impact.

She added: “The purpose of this mast is to enhance mobile coverage on the outskirts of Forfar. The pole is located within the boundary of our BT exchange building and planners deliberately sited it at the rear of the exchange to minimise the impact on visual amenity.

“It is adjacent to a local car park which has floodlighting so it was felt it would be in keeping with existing street furniture.

“The radio dish meets all the relevant international public safety level guidelines. BT will of course comply with any planning guidelines that are required by Angus Council.”